The Best Films of 2014 – The Steel Frog Blog

There are going to be those years in which you’re just at odds with everybody. Sure, I liked Birdman or (How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb) just fine. I just didn’t put it in my top 20. Boyhood didn’t make my top 40. At least I didn’t hate any of the Best Picture nominations this year. Seriously, what was up with Amour?

I didn’t even give Interstellar a passing grade. Guardians of the Galaxy? Fine film. Funny. Not here, either.

No, whether you were an Oscar voter or a fanboy, odds are I was least twenty places removed from whatever you had. That’s ok. I can live with being right. Can you live with being wrong?

HONORABLE MENTION

The Drop

Dammit. I never saw “The Sopranos” and now I miss James Gandolfini, anyway.

Winter’s Tale

For some reason, I have no trouble buying into the idea of Russell Crowe as a malevolent demon bounty hunter.

Muppets Most Wanted

Speaking of malevolent demon bounty hunters … :P

The Railway Man

Japanese prison camps in World War II weren’t any fun. We’ve been over this. But I’ve never seen anybody come back for more.

Selma

Fighting institutional evil takes more than just will power, but will power is a pretty good place to start.

Love is Strange

More than you’ll ever know.

Men, Women & Children

As the tools of communication improve, is our ability to communicate receding?

Nightcrawler

Jake Gyllenhaal plays a pure nocturnal cold-blooded insect, preying upon the tragic. This is a chilling character study on the order of Taxi Driver. You have to be a little cold-blooded to appreciate this. Yes, frogs are cold-blooded, too.